The Southern California angel group will announce an alliance with Intesa Sao Paolo, Italy’s largest bank, and is starting a new angel network based in Milan, peHUB has learned.

Maverick president John Dilts, who founded Maverick three years ago after leaving the Keiretsu Forum, said Maverick has been looking for ways to partner with large corporations that want faster access to startups, and the alliance with the bank should help. A lot of corporate venture arms got burned in the tech bubble and pulled back on investing in startups, he said, and now they’ve fallen behind.

VC Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures also weighed in for Jason, warning entrepreneurs to avoid not only angel groups that charge but also “startup agents that charge entrepreneurs upfront cash to make intros to potential investors…A basic rule of thumb for fundraising agents is that they must work on a success fee basis or you should not use them.”

However, representatives from two more of the groups Calacanis attacked by name — Maverick Angels and the Keiretsu Forum — called over the weekend to defend their practices.